


What Might Have Been

by rougefox



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternative Ending to Road To Nowhere, Braavos, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-20 22:16:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9518381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rougefox/pseuds/rougefox
Summary: This is the alternative epilogue to Road to Nowhere.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The original draft of Road to Nowhere followed the canon events of Brotherhood-->Red Wedding-->Fight at the Inn at the Crossroads, only Sandor wasn't injured. The original ending had Sandor and Sansa escape to Pentos after she gave birth on the Quiet Isle then Arya decided to leave and go to Braavos after having a dream about the future in which she finishes her list. 
> 
> I really love how bittersweet this is so I decided to share it with all of you while I work on the current story. 
> 
> This takes place five years after the original ending.

She is No One. Today she is Alice. She has blond hair and a pretty face obscured by a mask made of gems and thin feathers to mimic the face of a smiling cat. She moves with ease through the festival, the revelers consider her one of them. She is looking for her mark, the next soul for the Many Faced God.

 

Instead she is distracted by a flash of red. There is a red haired woman with the mask of feathers and gems to mimic a brightly colored bird. On her hip is a little boy of maybe two with dark hair wearing a mask mimicking a wolf. She isn't looking towards Alice, she is pointing out the gondolas to the little boy as they glide down the canal. The little boy claps. The woman turns slightly and Alice can see the roundness in her belly.

 

A large man working his way through the crowd bumps into her and breaks her concentration.

 

“Excuse me,” he stammers out in heavily accented Braavosi. Alice looks up at him; he is enormous with long black hair pulled back in a Pentoshi style, his mask is that of a black dog, a little girl of five is riding on his shoulders wearing a wolf mask. His head snaps down to her. He's staring at her, really seeing her like nobody has in a long time.

 

“Who is that father?” The little girl has a voice like tinkling bells.

 

“That's No One, sweetie,” he replies, his eyes bore pass the mask, pass the glamor into the part of her that is Arya Stark.

 

Arya wants to rip off her mask and hug her goodbrother. She wants to kiss her niece and meet her nephew. She wants to run to her sister and hold her in her arms then rub her belly and feel the life inside flutter. She wants for them to hop on a ship to the Kingdom of the North to see Ricken and Jon and marry Gendry and give him the daughters he loves and the sons he wants. But she can't, for she is No One although today she is Alice and she has a job to do.

 

“It's good see you, No one,” Sandor rasps at her and continues on his way to his wife. She sees them reunite with a kiss and they turn to focus on the colorful display.

 

Arya sadly waves at them and then disappears. One day Arya will return, soon, but not today.


End file.
